This invention relates to a game device of the freely rotating cylinder type, wherein game points or results are determined by positions of indicia on the cylinder relative to a fixed point of reference when the cylinder comes to rest.
Representative of game devices of the invention are the so-called "slot machines". In such machines one or more cylinders are caused to rotate by a force applied in various ways. Such forces can be purely mechanical, electrical, magnetic, or combinations of such. The force for rotating the cylinders is usually activated, or permitted to be activated, by the insertion of a coin or token into the device. The cylinders then rotate freely, and either are permitted to come to rest in their own time, or can be braked to a rest by suitable means, such as a mechanical brake operated by a crank-type handle. Sometimes, the insertion of the coin or token merely makes operation of the machine possible, and the force for rotating the cylinders as well as the brake is combined in a single mechanism operated, for example, by the well known crank-type arm.
Such game devices tend to be complex and expensive, and depend upon precision bearings and the like for free rotation of the cylinders.